Category: 2017

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 10, 2017 is Paul Kruger.
Paul Kruger (10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and President of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900. He was the face of the Boer cause against Britain during the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. As a child in the late 1830s, he took part in the Great Trek of people migrating east, away from the British Cape Colony. He witnessed the signing of the Sand River Convention with Britain in 1852 and over the next decade played a prominent role in the forging of the South African Republic, leading its commandos and resolving disputes between the rival Boer leaders and factions. After the South African Republic was annexed by Britain as the Transvaal, he became the leading figure in the movement to restore its independence, culminating in the Boers’ victory in the First Boer War of 1880–81 and Britain’s recognition of the republic as a fully independent state. During his presidency, tensions with Britain increased as thousands of predominantly British settlers arrived with the Witwatersrand Gold Rush. His portrait is on the Krugerrand, a gold bullion coin still being produced.

Source http://handbookblogger.blogspot.com/2017/10/wikipedia-article-of-day-for-october-10.html

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 9, 2017 is DNA nanotechnology.
DNA nanotechnology is the design and manufacture of technologically useful macromolecules using nucleic acids, the building blocks of DNA. In living cells, DNA is the carrier of genetic information. In the lab, strands of nucleic acids can spontaneously bind to form strong, rigid double helix structures with precisely controlled nanoscale features. Two- and three-dimensional crystal lattices, nanotubes, polyhedra, and various functional devices have been created. Tiles of nucleic acids can be assembled into larger units. Artificial DNA structures have been used to solve basic science problems in structural biology, biophysics and X-ray crystallography, and have helped identify protein structures through nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Potential applications in molecular scale electronics and nanomedicine are being investigated. The conceptual foundation for DNA nanotechnology was first laid out by Nadrian Seeman in the early 1980s, and the field began to attract widespread interest in the mid-2000s.

Source http://handbookblogger.blogspot.com/2017/10/wikipedia-article-of-day-for-october-9.html

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 8, 2017 is Underwater diving.
Underwater diving is the practice of descending below the water’s surface to interact with the environment. Humans are not biologically adapted for deep diving, and must use special equipment to extend the depth and duration of their dives. In ambient pressure diving, with direct exposure to the pressure of the surrounding water, the diver can use breathing apparatus for scuba diving or surface-supplied diving. For repeated deep dives, divers can reduce the risk of decompression sickness by living in a pressurized environment on the surface to prevent pressurization and depressurization as they dive. Atmospheric diving suits may be used to isolate the diver from high ambient pressure. Diving activities are restricted to maximum depths of about 40 metres (130 ft) for recreational scuba diving, 530 metres (1,740 ft) for commercial saturation diving, and 610 metres (2,000 ft) if atmospheric suits are worn. The history of breath-hold diving goes back at least to classical times, and there is evidence of prehistoric hunting and gathering of seafoods that may have involved underwater swimming.

Source http://handbookblogger.blogspot.com/2017/10/wikipedia-article-of-day-for-october-8.html

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 7, 2017 is No. 1 Wing RAAF.
No. 1 Wing was an Australian Flying Corps and Royal Australian Air Force wing active during World War I and World War II. Established in September 1917 as the 1st Training Wing, it commanded Australian pilot training squadrons in England until April 1919, when it was disbanded. It was re-formed as No. 1 Wing on 7 October 1942 as a fighter unit of one British and two Australian flying squadrons equipped with Supermarine Spitfire aircraft, and a mobile fighter sector headquarters. The wing provided air defence to Darwin and several other key Allied bases in northern Australia. During its first months at Darwin, its fighters intercepted several air raids on Northern Australia by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force and Imperial Japanese Navy. Although the wing was hampered by mechanical problems with its Spitfires and suffered heavy losses in some engagements, it eventually downed a greater number of Japanese aircraft than it lost in combat. The wing’s two Australian flying squadrons were replaced with British units in July 1944, and it was disbanded after the war.

Source http://handbookblogger.blogspot.com/2017/10/wikipedia-article-of-day-for-october-7.html

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 6, 2017 is Joehana.
Akhmad Bassah (flourished 1923–1930), known by his pen name Joehana, was an author of the Dutch East Indies who wrote stories, articles, and several novels in Sundanese. He worked for a time on the railroad before becoming an author by 1923. His strong interest in social welfare is evident in his novels. He has been classified as a realist owing to his use of the names of actual locations and products in his works, as well as the predominantly vernacular Sundanese in his novels, but influences from traditional theatrical forms such as wayang and literature such as pantun are also evident. Joehana’s works cover a wide range of themes, especially social criticism and modernization. Although his writings were adapted to the stage and film, they received little academic attention until the 1960s, and critical consensus since then has been negative. Two of his works have been republished since the 1960s, and stage productions of his novel Rasiah nu Goreng Patut continued into the 1980s.

Source http://handbookblogger.blogspot.com/2017/10/wikipedia-article-of-day-for-october-6.html